# @vikramsampath on Instagram

- **Type:** Image
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/CxiIB4GrRPv
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/61799927-vikramsampath-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/postThumbnails/374afe9bbe.jpg
- **Posted:** 2023-09-23T11:48:07.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** Vikram Sampath (@vikramsampath) — https://gondola.cc/vikramsampath

## Caption

There are times when your heart is heavy and your mind wanders away into centuries back in the past, conjuring images of what things could have been like in their heyday. A visit to the ruins of the Nalanda university was one such. Dating back to 6th Century B.C.E. Nalanda, along with universities like Takshashila, Vikramashila etc were the Oxfords and Princetons of those times which attracted students and scholars from all over the world to study Buddhist and Sanskrit texts. Nalanda was one such where Buddhist and Vedic/Sanskritic studies was pursued. 

The gigantic structures at Nalanda, the student dorms, the granary, the library, temples-- all stare back at you,  standing as mute spectators to the grandeur that was! Till about 1197 when the place was ruthlessly vandalised, desecrated and burnt down remorselessly by Bakhtiyar Khilji. The place was set on fire and there were so many manuscripts that were housed that it supposedly burnt for 6 months! The burn marks on the bricks that are still there, the burnt remains of grains that have gotten fossilised in the walls---all scream back at you if you care to listen, to narrate their horror stories. The monks and Brahmins were slaughtered & several escaped to Tibet, Nepal or South India. The fine buildings were reduced to ruinous heaps and the rich libraries were consumed by fire! 

It was deeply moving however to see a group of Buddhist tourists, from Indonesia, I suppose, who involuntarily sat there in obeisance and meditation in front of mutilated Buddha idols & the great central library dome! The structure was no doubt desecrated by the barbarian Khilji, but the faith was what he could not shatter— even 900 years later ! Kuch toh hai, ki hasti mitati nahi humari ?

Of course, with a complete historical amnesia & as a gross insult to our ancestors, we the great Indians, have named the town outside the ruins as Bakhtiyarpur — valorising the man who destroyed our best university & centre of learning! That albatross of shame & guilt is what we carried as we drove back to the modern times, eyes moist, hearts heavy, but spirits indefatigable! 

#nalanda #nalandauniversity #buddhism #buddhistquotes #sanskrit #monks

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## Tags

buddhism, nalanda, buddhistquotes, nalandauniversity, sanskrit, monks

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